Chariots-the might and power of the ancient Egyptian military!

The chariot was a very important part of the ancient Egyptian military during the New Kingdom. The earilest chariots were probably created during the Middle Bronze Period and used by the Sintashta-Petrovka culture, who lived in the steppes in what is now the border between Russia and Kazakhstan (though scholars are still arguing about this find). Two hundred years later (or 200 years before, depending on which archaeologists you believe), chariots arrived in Mesopotamia (chariots are depicted on the famous "Standard of Ur" from Sumeria) and Anatolia. In Mesopotamia, chariots weren't pulled by horses; instead, they were pulled by cows, donkeys, mules, and sometimes even goats! At first, chariots were basically a type of wagon. They had four wheels and were usually only used for transportation. Eventually chariots with two wheels came into use. But they originally had no floor; just a central plank parallel to the wheels, on which the driver would sit on as if he was riding a horse. But when the crossbar wheel connection was devised, it began a new era of warfare for the Middle East. The crossbar brought light (four) spoked wheels into use for the first time. Combined, the crossbar and the spoked wheels gave the chariots increased speed and agility, and didn't do anything harmful to the chariots strength or stability. Regardless of who made them first, chariots rampaged the world, spreading to Anatolia, Greece, and into Northern Europe by 1500 BC. Chariots were first brought to Egypt by the invading Hyskos during the 16th century BC. The Egyptians created their own unique version of the chariot and quickly added it to their armies. Interestingly, they didn't change the Syrian decorations (date palm branches or animals facing each other) or the Semitic names of the various parts of the chariots, despite the fact that they were foreign in nature. The Egyptians improved the chariot even more by inventing the yoke saddle for their horses around 1500 BC. By the 15th century BC, Egypt, under the rule of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III, had over a thousand chariots in their armies (although that sounds like a lot, the amount of chariots of the kingdom of Mitanni, in what is now Syria, was several times more than that of the Egyptians). The best preserved chariots are the four that have been found in the tomb of Tutankhamen (Do note, however, that Egyptian chariots are technically a mode of transportation and aren't actually a weapon, though most analysts count them as such. The chariot was more of a moving platform for the Egyptian archers. The Hittites, on contrast, built heavier chariots with central axles. They were used to charge and trample infantry!)

Chariots are fast, strong, and very mobile. They quickly proved to have an advantage over the infantry, and quickly rose to become an invaluable weapon in the armies of Egypt and the Near East. Besides the advantage, charging chariots had a great psychological impact on unprepared and unsteady troops. Chariots were basically the main backbone of the army of Egypt's New Kingdom (however, chariots were probably used more for hunting lions and for transportation than for warfare). They were an independent unit in the Egyptian army, composed primarily from the upper classes of Egyptian society. The chariot riders actually had their own aristocratic society of elites called the Maryannu (the Young Heroes), which was copied from the societies of chariot riders of other Middle Eastern nations of the Bronze Age. There are depictions of the members of the Maryannu riding chariots with the Pharaoh himself, and firing bows in battle alongside him. Chariots were so important that the boy king Tutankhamen is portrayed in hierloghics as riding and firing arrows from a chariot during a battle (though Tut probably never actually fought a battle in his lifetime). Both are typical examples of iconography of power and domination during the New Kingdom. Interestingly, the royal chariot was so important that there were Egyptian gods assigned to take care of each piece!

But chariots did have their faults. They were very expensive, very heavy (though when compared to Hittite chariots, they were actually quite light) and easily broke down. They were also very loud, making surprise attacks or sudden strikes out of the question. Chariots, however, were better for archers than the cavalry was. Bows were very large back then, making them hard to use while on horseback. In a chariot, however, the length of the bow was of no great concern to the archer. The stable platform of the chariot also made it easier for the archer to fire arrows. Plus, chariots could carry more arrows than a single horse could. Some scholars argue that the Egyptians didn't know how to breed or train horses for the military, which was why they preferred chariots to cavalry. Some scholars even compare ancient chariots with modern-day tanks. This, however, is a incorrect comparison. Chariots were dependent on the right terrain to function properly; whereas tanks are all-terrain combat vehicles (Scholars are still arguing about this, so you can pretty much make your own conclusions on this matter).

Chariots comprised of a wooden open-backed semicircular structure on a axle and two wooden spoked wheels. Now, how would you build a semicircular chamber out of wood? Where do you find a tree shaped that way? Answer: you don't. The ancient Egyptians would take normal planks of wood, boil them in boiling water for several hours, and then shape it into the shape they wanted. The wood was then let to dry, otherwise it would unbend itself. No one type of wood was used exclusively for making chariots. Both elm and ash wood were used to make the axles, and sycamore wood was used to make the foot board. Egyptians chariots were lighter and faster than other Middle Eastern chariots, but were not necessarily better. True, the Egyptians were the first to cover the axle in meat to help reduce friction. True, the Egyptians added strength to some wooden parts of the chariot by coating them in metal sleeves. But just because Egyptian chariots were lighter and faster than most, it does not make them better than, say, Hittite chariots. It all depends on what the intended use was and the terrain on which the chariot operated.

The construction of chariot wheels, however, was quite a different matter. The Egyptians originally used four-spoked wheels for the chariots. But four spoked wheels give the chariot a very rough ride. So the Egyptians switched to the six spoked wheel during the 18th and 19th dynasties. The six-spoked wheel was lighter than the four-spoked wheel and supported the chariot better.

For a six-spoked wheel, you needed six pieces of wood. The pieces then needed to be bent into the shape of the letter V. Then, glue the pieces together, so that every spoke is make up of two pieces of wood. Lastly, attached the spokes to the hub (the central connector, in which the spokes fit (see image)). Now, how do you attach the spokes to the hub so that they don't promptly fall out? Simple, you use...wet cattle intestines! Yes, these were very effective. Cattle intestines are easy to work with , and turn hard when dry, adding strength to the chariot wheel.

The hub and spokes from one of the chariot wheels from the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Ancient Egyptian chariot wheels also had tires. They were made from pieces of wood. The pieces were tied to the main wheel rim using leather straps. The straps would pass through slots cut in the tire and the wooden frame, meaning that they never came in contact with the ground. This is useful because it gives the tire a longer life and prevents wear and/or tear.

Chariots took a long time to make. German carpenters took six hundred hours to make a accurate replica! As a result, chariots were anything but cheap. The owner had to pay for two horses (which came from the royal stables) and five unequipped attendants; the equipment had to come from your own pocket. The chariot reportely cost five deben of sliver for the body and three deben of silver for the shaft (though the scribe who wrote this may have been lying). Lying or not, eight deben was a small fortune in ancient Egypt. And the chariot wasn't easy to take care of either.This explains why the only owners of chariots in ancient Egypt were the rich and powerful.

Each chariot was usually pulled by two horses and held two men; one driver and one archer. The archer carried a bow, arrows, and a few spears. He also sometimes carried a khepesh or a mace, which would be used at close range. The driver carried a whip and a shield, which he used to shield one side of the chariot from enemy fire. When hunting, archer often would multi-task and drive the chariot themselves, as it was considered more glamorous. But in war, the archer needed to concentrate on killing people, leaving the driver to control the chariot.

The main use of the chariot in ancient Egyptian strategy was to protect and cover the infantry who were still the main force of the army despite the advent of the chariot. In battle, chariots would advance first. They would ride in quickly, deliver a shower of arrows onto the enemy, and then quickly retreat before a counterattack could be assembled. The chariots would be quickly followed by the infantry, who would exploit any resulting cracks in the enemy's line of defense (this is very similar to the relationship of tanks and infantry in modern warfare). This tactic was designed to demoralize the enemy and make them feel helpless and vulnerable to any further attacks. The tactic was most useful when used to punch holes in tightly compact units of spear-men. Chariots were also useful for chasing down fleeing enemies after a victorious battle, archers using their spears to harpoon opponents like fish or their khepeshs to slice and dice their opponents. The biggest battle in which chariots played a role was the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC; about 5,000 or 6,000 chariots participated in the battle. The fast Egyptian chariots competed against the slower, heavier, three-man Hittite chariots. The Hittite chariots were designed to break through lines of infantry and were probably superior to Egyptian chariots. But Hittite needed open terrain to be able to speed up and were very unstable in rocky or rough soil. On contrast, Egyptian chariots could easily ride through the desert sands of Egypt or the rough or rocky soil of Canaan without tipping over. They could also turn much faster than their Hittite cousins. Egyptian chariots had the capability to accelerate quicker than Hittite chariots, which was an essential quality when it came to protecting the infantry. Both the Hittites and Egyptians claimed to have won the battle, so we don't definitely know who won the contest.

By 1000 BC, however, chariots had lost their fabled place in warfare, and were mostly replaced by horseback riders and the mounted cavalry. Chariots, however, did not fully disappear from the world. They took on a new place in hunting and in sports, especially at the Greeks Olympic Games or at the Roman Circus Maximus.